Wife of Convicted Casper Doctor Gets Probation for Drug Conspiracy

The wife of a former Casper doctor accused of running a multi-state prescription drug conspiracy avoided prison and was sentenced to time served and three years of probation for her role in the crime, according to the sentenced handed down by a federal judge in Cheyenne on Wednesday.

On April 24, Lyn Kahn pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to dispense and distribute oxycodone and other drugs the day before the month-long trial of her husband, Shakeel, and his brother Nabeel Kahn. Both were found guilty.

"I know what I did was wrong," Lyn Kahn told U.S. District Court Judge Alan Johnson at her plea.

In exchange for her plea, Lyn Kahn would receive a reduced sentence, would testify on behalf of prosecutors and would have seven counts -- five counts of unlawful use of a communication facility and two counts of dispensing oxycodone aid and abet -- dismissed at her sentencing.

The proposed prison term in the plea deal was no more than two years imprisonment. If her case had gone to trial and she was convicted, she could have faced up to 20 years in prison.

Kahn also will be required to undergo a mental health evaluation, not use or possess controlled substances, and undergo cognitive/behavioral treatment, according to the minutes of the nearly hour-and-a-half long hearing.

She was the third of five defendants in the case to be sentenced. The other two were Paul Beland and Shawnna Thacker, who also received sentences of time served plus three years of probation.

Shakeel and Nabeel Kahn are scheduled for sentencing on Aug. 1.

On May 24, a jury found Shakeel Kahn guilty of 21 counts including distributing oxycodone and other drugs resulting in death; possessing a firearm during a federal drug-trafficking crime, and operating a continuing criminal enterprise.

The jury found Nabeel Kahn guilty of distributing oxycodone and other drugs, and resulting in death, and for brandishing a firearm during a federal drug trafficking crime

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The complex case began more than three years ago when the Wyoming State Board of Pharmacy asked the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to investigate Shakeel Kahn, who was issuing large prescriptions for controlled substances under DEA licenses in Arizona and Wyoming. The Arizona and Wyoming boards of medicine subsequently suspended Kahn's medical licenses for prescribing controlled substances outside the standard of care.

Shakeel and Lyn Kahn were arrested at their house on Thorndike Avenue in Casper on Nov. 30, 2016, and initially charged with one count of conspiracy to distribute oxycodone.

Shakeel and Lyn Kahn dealt with customers who paid them $500 in cash for a prescription. Medical evaluations were usually minimal if not nonexistent. Customers would fly from as far away as Washington and Massachusetts to obtain prescriptions from him, according to court records.

Customers often would resell the drugs. Some of the transactions occurred at the now-closed Vape World shop on 12th Street operated by Kahn's stepchildren.